Brian Truitt

John Williams composes a sprawling, effervescent score that, while not his best, certainly captures the musical magic that makes his partnership with Spielberg so special.

Even with an administration full of smart, capable people, no one is properly prepared when nuclear weaponry is triggered, and “A House of Dynamite” puts an extremely human spin on that particular no-win situation.

Shi crafts a heartwarming, empowering and fun narrative about female puberty and a changing mother/daughter relationship.

With "Nope," Peele showcases a new sense of blockbuster flair while maintaining his signature gift for twisted modern relevance.

Pretty much everybody is kung fu fighting in “Snake Eyes,” a satisfying martial-arts action-adventure with two magnetic leads, a heap of lightning-quick swordplay and the best argument yet for a G.I. Joe cinematic universe.

The Mummy is a tomb full of action-packed guilty pleasure that owns its horror, humor and rampant silliness equally.

Soul is a jazzy and profound riff on humanity and the hereafter, an entertaining, exuberant effort about our existence with comedic shenanigans, deep thoughts and wondrous imagination.

As one might say in Oz, “Wicked” is thrillifying in its melodiousness even if overlongical and ponderrific.

While genre tropes are very much in play, there's a certain magic in this “Big”-meets-Superman affair where an ancient wizard transforms a troubled teenager into a buff, god-like guy with a light-up suit.

The 5th Wave finds a way to make the most of Moretz’s talents, with the emotionality she showed in If I Stay and the utter physical chutzpah of her Kick-Ass films.

While Face the Music is best when you don’t think about it too hard, it's also a movie that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t bother to have an insincere moment.

While tonally jumbled and at times violently jarring, the movie delivers strange vibes and extremely strong performances from Jesse Plemons at his oddball finest and Emma Stone, who may or may not be from our planet.

The infamous clown is plenty freaky, though it’s the youngsters, bursting with hormones and one-liners, who make It one of the better Stephen King adaptations.

Directed once again by Christopher McQuarrie, the seventh “M:I” is chock-full of gloriously bonkers stunt sequences, fresh and familiar faces alike, and Cruise running (usually literally) from one international locale to the next.

With a musical that doesn’t shy away from tackling issues of racism and immigration, viewers will find themselves immersed in a song-filled, universally relatable story about chasing dreams and building community.

Unsurprisingly, Spielbergian wonder is sprinkled throughout the episodic Fabelmans. The movie starts out slow, though when the filmmaker gets to Sammy’s high school days, he finds that signature electricity so apparent in his blockbuster career.

The best thing O’Connor does here, as he also did with the underrated “The Accountant,” is let Affleck remind us once again that he’s a first-class actor – just in case anyone forgot after his brief stint in an infamous cape and cowl.

“Fury” piles on the mythos, monsters and magic, a smidge too heavily at times, but stays grounded, thanks to its earnestly goofy main man.

It’s a more demanding narrative to navigate than the director’s previous efforts, and not all of it works with its sly subtlety. Yet there’s sensational artistry at work, with Aster peppering much of his storytelling in the background of scenes (photos on walls, informative signs, etc.) that a lot of folks might not even notice.

Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut, the comedy “Good Fortune” would have been just fine as a lively two-hander with Ansari and Seth Rogen that acts as a funny, often insightful exploration of the modern gig economy. It’s Reeves, though, who literally comes down from heaven (actually, more often a rooftop) to be the supernatural presence the movie needs to be something special.

However solid the grown-ups are, the youngsters together – whether in the first film or the sequel – make “It” shine.

Like “Donnie Darko” or David Lynch’s entire oeuvre, “Glow”... blends the real and the surreal in a neon-drenched nightmare that leaves a trail of thematic breadcrumbs for its audience.

Steamy, twisty, demented and not exactly subtle in its aim to entertain film fans and BookTok alike. Director Paul Feig’s movie doesn’t hit all the marks of its addictive source material, but the thing is plenty wild enough to be a holiday guilty pleasure.

In other hands, Patriots Day could have been a paint-by-the numbers action thriller, but strong performances and well-paced momentum make it an engrossing watch.

There is no lack of Disney-fied melodrama, for sure, yet Queen fights through all that with outstanding acting, deft filmmaking choices and the introduction of a new talent in Madina Nalwanga.

A better effort than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and a worthy follow-up to runaway hit Wonder Woman, Justice League does the DC icons proud with some high-profile additions and a strong if unspectacular effort full of fun character moments.

The animation is also top-notch: Bo has a bunch of dazzling scenes as a porcelain warrior, and human characters look better than ever. With the emphasis on Woody’s tale, Buzz and the other returning toys spend much of the movie as side characters, but it turns into a true romp when everyone's plots coincide.

Featuring an impressive voice cast, a clever script, an abundance of pig puns and a duck the size of a T. Rex, the film treads familiar ground by pitting a bunch of Davids vs. egotistical Goliaths on the soccer pitch. But it does so in such a supremely quirky and earnestly heartwarming fashion that it’s hard not to be charmed.